Step up review of Libya attack

WHERE WE STAND: Administration should clear the air and provide answers before Election Day

There are cover-ups and there are cop-outs. It is looking increasingly likely that the Obama administration may be guilty of at least one of them in the matter of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead.

Official emails surfaced Wednesday indicating that the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the consulate, and possibly before U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens had been killed, that an Islamic terrorist group had claimed credit for the attack. The emails stated that Stevens and four staff members were in a safe house in the compound in Benghazi.

The emails lend further credence to suspicions that the White House knew, or should have known, that their pronouncements about what triggered the attack - a viral video made in the United States that insults the Prophet Mohammed - were inaccurate.

The State Department has declined to comment on the specifics of the matter until an investigation is completed, which conveniently is not scheduled to be until after the Nov. 6 presidential election. It should speed up its investigation and release at least a preliminary report prior to Election Day. The voting public deserves the truth.

President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials had initially blamed the attack on a spontaneous demonstration sparked by the anti-Islam video that was the catalyst for unrest in several other nations. The White House eventually acknowledged the attack was carried out by terrorists with suspected links to al-Qaida affiliates. The CIA station chief in Libya determined within 24 hours of the attack that it was the work of terrorists.

But Obama's Rose Garden statement the day after the attack, in which he said, "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation," does not explain why administration officials, including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, were still parroting the false video claim days later on several TV shows. Obama himself told talk show host David Letterman seven days after the attack that it was prompted by protests over the video. Why?

The public deserves a response. The rapid release of the State Department's preliminary findings is absolutely essential to help clear the air. Waiting until after the election isn't soon enough.

No administration should posit its own version of the truth in light of contemporaneous eyewitness accounts and subsequent evidence that contradicts its initial pronouncements. Neither the fog of war nor the confusion of terrorist chaos should get in the way of being forthright with the facts.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Step up review of Libya attack

There are cover-ups and there are cop-outs. It is looking increasingly likely that the Obama administration may be guilty of at least one of them in the matter of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S.